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SECTION 3
Channel
A radio frequency band used for communication between wireless cards and access points.
Cache Memory
A block of memory built into the micro-processor which ins much faster to access than your system
RAM and used in specially structured ways to make your overall data handling tine faster.
CardBus
A faster, 32-bit version of the PC Card interface which offers performance similar to the 32-bit PCI
architecture.
CD-ROM
Compact disc read only memory. This is a form of digital data storage which is read optically with a
laser rather than a magnetic head. A typical CD-ROM can contain about 600MB of data and is not
subject to be crashing into the surface and destroying the data when there is a failure nor to wear
from reading.
CMOS RAM
Complementary metal oxide semiconductor random access memory. This is a technology for
manufacturing random access memory which requies very low level power to operate.
COMM Port
Abbreviation for communication port. This is your serial interface connection.
Command
An instruction which you give your operating system. Example: run a particular application or format
a floppy disk.
Configuration
The combination of hardware and software that make up your system and how it is allocated for use.
CRT
Cathode Ray Tube. A display device which uses a beam of electronic particles striking a luminescent
screen. It produces a visual image by varying the position and intensity of the beam.
Disk
A spinning platter of magnetic data storage media. If the platter is very stiff it is a hard drive, if it is
highly flexible it is a floppy disk, if it is a floppy disk in a hard housing with a shutter it is commonly
called diskette.
Disk Drive
The hardware which spins the disk and has the heads and control circuitry for reading and writing
the data on the disk.
Diskette
A floppy disk in a hard housing with a shutter.
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